Like or love?
by RoxyMoon
Summary: ShikaxOC ; Sora, hidden leaf ninja, just keeps struggling with how she feels. Except now, there seems to be a new emotion that added itself to the long never ending list of feelings to keep in check: love. Will Sora be ready for this long bumpy ride awaiting her?
1. Lazy day

**Hi everyone, welcome to my Shikamaru x OC story. Please let me know what you think after you're done reading. ****I would greatly appreciated, especially if its to encourage me and/or help me correct something.**

**Do feel free also to leave your thoughts on what you think will happen, I would always like to know your thoughts.**

**Anywho, here it goes! Remember that this will now be in 3rd person's POV!**

_**Disclaimer: **_**I don't own Naruro. Shoot.**

* * *

**Lazy day**

It was just the perfect temperature: not too cold, not too warm. It fit perfectly fall, Sora's favorite time of the year. But the temperature wasn't the only factor of her good mood. Her birthday was coming up soon. She was wondering if anyone would remember this year. Ever since her parents died in a mission, there weren't too many people giving attention to Sora.

That's where her team came in. Thanks to Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, and Asuma, she felt like she found a second family which she could feel happy around. Although, six years later, she still missed her parents awfully a lot, she tried to concentrate on what she had now.

A little "tic" sound brought her back to reality. She looked down at the board on the table in front of her. Her opponent had finally made his move. She studied carefully the pieces while gently biting her thumb, like she always does when she thinks. After a moment, Sora let out a small discouraged sigh. It was no use. He outsmarted her…_again_. She looked up at her opponent to see a small smirk painted on his face.

"Looks like you win again, Shikamaru".

"Which means that…?" the black hair boy asked.

"I have to help sensei pay the barbecue supper tonight. I know. I didn't forget it," she answered in a desperate voice.

"Maybe I could let you win next time," he said while breaking the girl's eye contact to analyze the board game once more.

"Hey! That wouldn't be fair play! The day I beat you, I want it to be a game I win fair and square" she said all while faking an outraged expression.

"You're right. It would be too much of a drag to cheat," he said looking up again.

Both Shikamaru and Sora smiled at that statement. When they first started being a team, Shikamaru was surprised to find someone else than himself that was interested in shōgi. Thus, he took advantage of this discovery and thought her everything he knew on the game. However, not once had she managed to beat him. _It's like playing against a god_, she often thought.

"I guess the student didn't surpass the teacher yet." She got up and stretched. While quickly passing a hand through her hair, she started looking at the beautiful view around them, lost in thoughts once more. Shikamaru looked once more at the board while admitting mentally: _It was a close one_.

Then Sora suddenly broke the silence. "Hey Shika, isn't your birthday soon?" she asked out loud as the thought popped up in her mind.

"Yeah, September 22nd. In roughly a week, I'd say."

"Thought so…" she said.

"Why are you asking?" he asked her, looking at her aqua blue eyes.

"I was just wondering…" she said quickly. Wiggling around uncomfortably, she quickly broke eye contacted and looked at her hand like it was the most interesting thing in the world. She then managed to change the subject by asking: "Do you remember when our sensei wanted to meet us?"

"Nope. Usually, I let you remember those things" he answered stretching lazily on his spot.

"Thanks, that was very helpful," she said sarcastically.

He let out a sigh as he got up. "How about we go see Ino? Maybe she remembers."

"Sure, I think she's still working right now."

"Yeah, let's go," he said putting his hands in his pockets and starting to walk away, leaving the game behind.

Sora followed quickly behind him.

* * *

On the way, neither of them spoke. Part of the reason was because they couldn't find any interesting topic to talk about. The other part was because the silence was just comfortable.

Finally, they entered a flower shop. As the door opened, they heard a small bell ring over their head.

At the cash in front of them, they saw a blonde hair girl talking to an older man with black hair. The man was holding a big bouquet of red roses freshly cut.

"So who are the flowers for, sensei?" the girl asked on this really annoying tone that always made Sora frowned. Looks like gossip queen was at it again.

"Nobody," the man answered much too quickly.

All three teenagers now had an amused expression on their face since they all knew who the flowers were for. They just found it really funny how their teacher was trying so badly to hide it.

"Sorry to interrupt your little trip to see Kurenai, Asuma-sensei" said Shikamaru, deciding to rub it in.

The man turned and finally saw two other of his students standing at the front door.

"How do you guys know?" Asuma asked.

"Well, it's really obvious?" answered the blonde girl.

"Ino's right. The flowers, the mysterious 'rendez-vous'… who wouldn't guess?" pointed out Sora.

Asuma sighed. There was obviously no way to hide his secret anymore.

"Wait until you guys fall in love for real," mumbled the grown man.

"Does she knows, at least?" asked the black hair girl curiously.

The man suddenly knew how to finish this awkward conversation for, at least he'd hope, today. Taking this window of opportunity, he answered with another question:

"Why do you sound so interested suddenly, Sora? Do you like someone and want some advice?" he asked with a wink.

The question caught the girl by surprise. Her face turned red in a matter of seconds. It did not help either when she noticed that everyone in the shop was staring at her. When she realized that she looked like a fish out of water as she tried to find something to say, she decided that it was better to avoid their questioning looks the best she could by staring at her feet, realizing at the same time that she might need to clean her shoes. Asuma suddenly felt bad. He hadn't thought that his question would put in her in such an awkward situation.

"Really? So who is it?" asked Ino with a huge mischievous smile, using that same annoying voice that she had used earlier with Asuma.

Seeing that she wouldn't talk, thus, meaning that the conversation was going straight for a wall, Shikamaru decided to jump in and change the subject.

"Anyway, we came here to know when you wanted to meet us at the barbecue restaurant."

Sora thanked in her head Shikamaru for his initiative. She really didn't want to talk about how she felt with her teammates. Why tell them when she didn't even know herself how she felt? Honestly, it made her want to cry and scream out in anger at the same time.

"What? You guys don't remember when? You both are really unbelievable!" Ino shouted. It seemed like she had already forgotten the previous hot topic, thankfully.

"We're sorry! It slipped out of my mind…" tried to explain Sora.

"Its okay Sora. In half an hour, that's when our meeting time is set," Asuma informed her while ruffling her hair.

"Good, I'll go get Choji then" said Shikamaru as he opened the door.

"And I have to go get my wallet at my house for tonight's supper" said the black hair girl in a desperate voice, suddenly remembering her deal with her friend.

They both walked out of the store as the bell over their heads rang again.

"She lost another game against him," chuckled the man.

"Shouldn't you hurry up and give your flowers, sensei?" suggested Ino.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going Ino".

Asuma then left the store as the blonde girl was starting to close her shop. Outside, Shikamaru and Sora were both walking their own ways lost in thoughts.

* * *

**_So what did you guys think? Should I continue? I got some great ideas down ! :D_**

**_Let me know! Comments and reviews would encourage me to keep going!_**


	2. All this just to find a wallet

_**Hi everyone! Thank you all for staying with me this far!  
**__**I'll admit that I had a lot of fun making this chapter. Lots and lots of humor!**_

_**I also took that time to introduce another OC. She's my main OC that I keep for my own personal stories.**_**  
****_Two quick notes about Reena (second OC):  
1 - she hosts the 5 tails inside of her.  
2 - do note how she doesn't call Kakashi "sensei" when she speaks about him at one point ;)_  
**

**_That aside, back to our ShikaxOC story! Enjoy guys!_**

* * *

Sora was walking back to her house. It was very far from the center of the town. Actually, it was very close to the forest as her parents loved nature. When they died, she inherited the whole property. It was such a big empty place now….

On her way back, she saw on the ground something shiny. When she picked it up, she could see that it was a silver dog tag kind of necklace. On the tag, there was a moon engraved on one side and a hidden cloud symbol on the other.

_Where have I seen this necklace before...? _wondered Sora as she looked at it closely. She was sure that she has seen this necklace before; she just couldn't put a finger on it though. After a while, she tucked it away in her pouch, convinced that she would remember eventually. When she arrived at her house, she took out her key and tried to unlock the door to then realize that it wasn't even locked to start with.

Walking in her house and looking around, she mumbled to herself:

"Now where could I have possibly left my wallet this time?"

She started by researching her room first, and then moved on to her kitchen, to finally end up in her living room. It was nowhere to be found. As she was about to head for her washroom, she heard a voice coming from the entrance:

"Sora...? Are you home?"

"In the living room Reena!" the girl swiftly answered.

A couple of seconds later, a white hair girl with golden eyes was standing in the same room than she was. The girl had been one of the few close friends that Sora had managed to make in the academy. Unfortunately, faith would have it that the two girls did not end up in the same team. In fact, they both had the opportunity of feeling like the 'extra students' that were assigned as a fourth person in three man squads for team 7 and 10.

"Sorry if I'm bothering you, Sora, but the door was open, so I wanted make sure it wasn't a break in," Reena told her.

"Its fine, thanks for checking though," she answered thankfully.

When the black hair girl looked up, she saw that her friend was giving her a questioning look.

"I'm searching for my wallet", she answered the silent question. "Geez, how did I lose it so easily?"

She stood up, putting one hand on her hip while lightly biting the other hand's thumb. Her house was a real mess as she really never took the time to clean it. Reena was also looking around, now grinning at her friend's question.

"No needs to answer, I already know why" Sora told her, lifting her hand toward her.

"Do you want me to help you look?" offered Reena who was trying not to laugh at her friend's discouragement.

"That would be extremely helpful."

Both rolled up their sleeves and with that started the research in different parts of the house. When Sora finally thought that she had lost her wallet forever on top of maybe being late for the supper, Reena shouted from the living room:

"Got it!"

"Really...? Where did you find it?" she asked while running in the room.

"On this table filled with all these drawings", she said giving the wallet to her friend before adding, "really good drawings by the way".

"Thanks, now I can go finally eat!" Sora answered, ignoring her friend's mention of the drawings. She somehow felt uncomfortable talking about them since many of them were based on memories that she still had from her parents.

As if her answer was the cue, her stomach started to make gurgling noises. Reena giggled as her friend blushed slightly. They finally both walked out of the house.

"Don't you want to lock your door?" pointed out the white hair girl as they were walking away.

"Oh yeah!"

Sora ran back to the door, finding her key in her back pouch to lock the door.

"I almost forgot!" she said as she walked back toward her friend while scratching the back of her head embarrassed.

"Again..." her friend mumbled. "I swear, one day, someone will just come in your house..."

"Don't curse it! Anyway, what are you doing out here?" asked Sora curiously.

"I've been searching for that bastard Naruto," she answered now looking angry.

Sora let out a sigh as she looked up to the sky. It was very common for Naruto to get Reena and everyone else in their team mad. If he didn't make her mad, he would manage to make the others angry. It just seemed like sometimes, although Naruto was trying hard to become besties with Reena, he ended creating more fighting than anything else. Sora's quick theory on the subject was that it may be due to the fact that they were both jinchūriki. Thus, the tailed beasts in them brought more frustration in the friendship than there should have been. But that really was just a theory.

"What did he do this time?"

"He stole a little something from me which is very very very important to me..."

"Then maybe he's hiding in town now. That's where I'm going so why not walk all the way there together?"

"Sure. I really thought that he ran toward your house earlier but now he's probably on his way back to the training ground or something".

"You'll find him," she said in hope to encourage her.

* * *

"Hurry up, Shikamaru! We're going to be late!" shouted a brown hair boy.

"There's no way we're going to be late, sensei said in half an hour, Choji".

Choji was about Shikamaru's age. They've been friends for a long time and have been in the same team. He was a bit overweight, which was common for his clan. As long as no one mentioned it, there was no problem regarding this detail.

"Maybe he told you that, but he can be there early. If so, we can go eat early!" he said in a logical tone.

"Doubt it, he's gone to see Kurenei-sensei," Shikamaru mumbled as an answer.

As Choji was about to reply when a spiky yellow hair boy came out of nowhere.

"Hi guys!" he shouted in an energetic voice.

"Hi Naruto, what are you doing here?" asked Shikamaru, happy to change the conversation away from the useless debate they were having.

"I'm kind of running away from Reena…" Naruto answered as he scratched the back of his head in discomfort.

"What did you do...?"

"In order to prove to her that I had gotten better, I managed to steal a necklace from her back pouch when she wasn't looking," he announced proudly before his expression turned into a gloomier one.

"Then why aren't you giving it back? I'm sure she'll forgive you," commented Choji

"I don't think that's the problem..." Shikamaru pointed out to his friend.

"Exactly... I kind of lost it," explained Naruto, now really discouraged.

"Ouch" mumbled both guys as they knew that the girl could be quite scary when angry.

Naruto let out a desperate sigh before adding:

"Mind if I walk with you guys?"

"Sure, why not. We were actually heading for the barbecue restaurant," announced happily Choji.

"Your sensei is paying?" asked the blonde boy.

"Yeah, with the help of Sora... She lost a deal," said Shikamaru with a smirk.

"Again," added Choji before both of them laughed a bit.

"I wish my sensei would pay us a treat as often as yours..." mumbled Naruto.

They all three headed to the restaurant. They chatted about several things, like Naruto's new training, how long they hadn't had a "real" mission, etc. About 15 minutes later, they finally arrived to their destination.

"I'll have to leave you guys now," announced Naruto as he turned to walk away. Barely did he make a step that he froze on place. In front of him, there was Sora and Reena walking side by side chatting.

"Crap," mumbled a very panicked Naruto.

As Reena saw Naruto, everyone saw her face change from happiness to anger. It was a matter of seconds before she was up to him and pinning him to a wall before he could do anything to get away.

"I'm sorry! I'm really really really sorry!" Naruto shouted with panic as he saw the girl lifting her fist.

"This is your last chance Naruto! Where is it?!"

"I... d-don't k-know," he answered nervously.

"What do you mean you don't know?!"

"I kind of lost... it...?" he said in a small voice that was almost a whisper.

"You lost it?!" she yelled out in furry. "YOU LOST IT?!"

"I'm going to find it! I promise! Please let me go!"

"You're going to regret you were even born Naruto Uzumaki! This time Kakashi isn't there to help you!"

While the beating started, Sora walked up to Shikamaru and Choji.

"Somebody is going to have a hard time," she said to them.

"Yeah, and to say it's just for a necklace," Shikamaru said looking away from the horrible scene.

"A necklace?" the girl asked as she was also looking away from the beating.

"Yeah, Naruto told us he snatched it from her back pouch but then he lost it," told Choji, still somehow looking at the fight.

It suddenly hit her: that necklace she found on her way home was Reena's. She remembered her friend showing it to her, telling her that it was the only thing that she had left from her hometown and clan. She shoved her hand down her pocket to take out the object and ran toward her friend.

"Reena! Isn't this what you were looking for?" she asked loudly, waving it at her.

The white hair girl turned her head and released the boy when she saw her friend. Walking toward Sora, everyone could see how relieved she was to have found her precious treasure.

"Where did you find it?" she asked.

"On my way home... I'm really sorry, it took me a while before remembering it was yours," Sora answered her as she dropped the necklace in her friend's hands.

"Thank you so much! Come to think of it, visit me later on when you'll have the time. I might have something that will interest you".

"Sure. See you later!"

Reena walked away, heading toward her house.

"Is she gone?" asked Naruto, still in shock.

"Yeah, the way is clear," answered Choji.

Painfully getting up, he walked toward the group. He didn't look alright at all. Looking at Sora, he asked her:

"Why didn't you give it to her earlier? I could have avoided all this!"

"I didn't know what she was searching for it until he told me," she answered in an apologetic tone, pointing at Shikamaru.

"Girls, I'll never understand them. Making such a racket just for a necklace," the boy mumbled.

The other two boys shook their head in agreement.

"Hey! You do realize I'm still here, right?!" said Sora looking offended.

They all laughed at her reaction. It was then that Asuma and Ino finally arrived. Choji was already drooling at the idea that they were about to go eat.

"Wow, what happened to you?" Ino asked looking at Naruto.

"A very long story..." Sora answered for him.

"...which we'll answer once we'll be inside eating!" Choji completed her sentence.

"Well, I have to go meet Iruka who's probably waiting for me!" Naruto told them before he ran off waving back at them.

"Okay, let's go in before Choji eats someone," announced Asuma laughing.

"Alright!" yelled out Choji.

* * *

_**Aaaaaaaaaand that is it! I **__**know there wasn't a lot of Shikamaru and Sora together in this chapter but this helped me introduce new important aspects of the story. That's why I tried to make it as funny as possible.**_

_**Share the love and review guys! I'll be waiting to see what you all thought about this while working on the next part (which I already have started - man I'm on fire! Hahaha)**_


	3. What a girl needs

**_Hello everyone! Thank you for reading this far. _**

**_If you have any comments and questions don't hesitate to review/PM me!_**

* * *

Everyone's stomach was pretty filled up, beside for Choji, whose belly seemed to have no end. As Ino was about to take the last piece of meat on the grill, Choji snatched it right in front of her.

"Choji, give that back! You already had enough!" she complained.

"The last piece is mine!" said Choji, delighted.

"It's not fair! You ate twice as more than..."

But she interrupted herself when she saw the boy, whom she was fighting with, put the piece of meat in his mouth. She automatically got pissed off.

"Choji, you fa-...!"

"Ino, don't say that word," swiftly interrupted Shikamaru as the girl was about to say the taboo word.

Choji, on his side, didn't seem to have noticed anything as he chew happily on his piece.

"I'm going to the washroom," he announced as he got up and walked away.

"I'm going too," said the blond girl still frustrated.

Asuma, Shikamaru, and Sora watched them walk away.

"Well, it was really good. Thanks for treating us, sensei," Sora said with a smile.

"You can't really thank me Sora, since you're helping me pay too" Asuma answered while winking at her.

"Yeah, I know. But it's better than paying it all by myself! I'd be broke much faster without you."

"You know, you really don't have to pay if you don't want to," he said, looking at her directly in the eyes.

"A deal is a deal. I never go back on my word," the girl said while lifting her right hand up solemnly and covering her heart with her left.

"…or that would be cheating," Shikamaru teased her in a mocking tone.

She turned and gave him a mean look. Then they all three burst out laughing.

"I'll go to the washroom then I'll come back to help you pay, sensei," she said as she got up.

On the way, she saw Ino and Choji talking in front of the washrooms.

"I don't know how you do it," commented the blonde girl.

"Do what?" asked Choji.

"Eat like that! I try to avoid that because I'm on a diet" she answered.

"I should be the one asking you how you do it! I can't imagine myself doing a diet!" he replied while rubbing his belly with his left hand.

"But you should still try. You know people are attracted to think people like me".

The boy didn't reply. Sora could see that he was lost in his thoughts. Ino didn't wait for a reply. She just spun around and walked in the girls' washroom. Sora walked up to Choji and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Choji. Do what you want, not what someone else says or you'll just end up being sad in life," she told him.

"Thanks" he said as he smiled.

He turned and walked in the boys' washroom. Sora entered the girls' one right away. When she came out to clean her hands, she saw Ino at the sink.

"You know, you shouldn't tell Choji how to be. If he like what he is, then let him be," said shyly Sora.

"Yeah, sure, whatever... However, I want you to tell me who is your crush!" Ino said as she closed the water and turned to face Sora with that annoying smirk on her face.

The black hair girl blushed as she got angry.

"Forget it. If you seriously think I'm going to tell you then you're wrong!" she gave out as an answer.

"Do like you wish, but I'll figure it out after a while," Ino said still smirking. "I have a great intuition for these things!"

She turned and walked out. But before crossing the entrance of the washroom, she looked at Sora over her shoulder and added:

"But if you think you can attract a guy with your looks, than you're wrong. Guys like long hair and attractive girls like me," she said passing her hand in her hair. She then added spitefully, "you just look like that Sakura".

She then walk out, leaving Sora alone. Sakura was a pink hair girl, in Reena's and Naruto's team. Her hair was down to her shoulder just like Sora and never really managed to attract the one guy that she really liked.

Sora looked at her reflection in the mirror over the sink. She suddenly realized that she never really cared about how she looked, but how she acted. She never thought a comment like this would affect her one day. She started to look at her features more carefully. What was there to like?

* * *

Asuma, Choji, and Shikamaru were talking together when Ino came back to the table.

"Hey, I'm sorry to leave so early, but I told my mom that I would help her with an urgent delivery tonight. So I'll see you guys later?" she asked.

"Yes, we might meet tomorrow, but I still haven't decided what time. I'll come by your flower shop to tell you when I'll have decided," told her Asuma.

"Sure! See you guys tomorrow then!"

As she walked out of the store, Choji remembered that he also had to leave.

"I'm supposed to meet my dad. See you tomorrow sensei and Shikamaru," he announced in a hurry before leaving.

When Choji was out, Shikamaru and Asuma started to talk again. A couple minutes had past when the man suddenly said:

"I wonder what's taking Sora so long." He then added jokingly, "I hope she didn't escape so she wouldn't have to pay!"

"That would also count as cheating," told Shikamaru.

They both laughed at the joke. However, they stopped abruptly when they saw Sora coming. She didn't look too good; in fact, she seemed completely out of it. Something was clearly troubling her as any hint of happiness from earlier was now gone.

"What happened?" asked Shikamaru.

"Nothing," she answered in a dry voice.

She took out her wallet out and took a bit of money. She then gave it to Asuma as she put her wallet back in her pouch.

"Here's the money, it should cover at least half of the tab. I have to leave."

And without any further explanation, she turned and walked out of the restaurant.

"It almost looked like she either cried or was about to," said Shikamaru.

"Oh, trust me, she didn't cry and neither will she do anything of that sort. It has been a long time since I've seen any tears coming from her," said Asuma in a very sinister voice while looking outside.

Shikamaru was still looking at the door through which Sora just left. He was completely lost in his thoughts.

* * *

Sora was sitting on the side of a river, her feet in the water. In front of her, she had a perfect view of the sun set. She was lost in her thoughts for a long while now. All kind of things kept popping up in her mind.

"I wonder... no..." she said to herself before adding, "why do I even care about those things?"

The girl let out a sigh. It was starting to be very dark outside. There was nothing to do. There was no one waiting for Sora at her house and just that thought added more pain in her heart. She started to think about the people that she knew. When she thought about her friend Reena, she suddenly remembered that the girl had told her to come and see her tonight.

She got up quickly and put back her shoes on, now excited to see what her friend had reserved for her. Jogging all the way to her friend's house, it took about ten minutes before she ended up standing in front of the door of an apartment. She was about to knock but then stopped in her track as she remembered that Reena was now sharing an apartment with Kakashi. Just that thought made Sora feel really awkward.

The door suddenly opened and a very surprised white hair girl was standing there:

"Hey Sora...! I thought you wouldn't come by since it was getting really late."

"I'm really sorry Reena. I forgot you wanted to see me. Am I too late?"

"Of course not! It's never too late to visit me! Why don't you come it?" Reena answered as she moved sideways to let Sora come in.

The black hair girl walked in. When she looked around, she saw that Reena's place was much neater then her own.

"Wait… how did you know I was in front of your door? I didn't even knock!" asked Sora curiously.

"Oh, it's a kind of thing I can do... You know, with the five tails and all..." answered awkwardly Reena while rubbing the back of her head. It wasn't her favorite thing to talk about. Since people usually freaked out, she learned to avoid talking about it.

Sora decided to change the subject. "Kakashi-sensei isn't here?"

"Oh no no. He's gone on a mission," Reena said giggling a bit. "I wouldn't have invited you over if he had been here!"

"So... why _did_ you wanted to see me?" asked curiously Sora.

"Well, on my last mission, I found something interesting and it made me think about you."

"Really? What is it?" asked the black hair girl getting more and more interested.

"It's a bit hard to explain it without showing it to you first. Here sit on the sofa, I'll be right back!"

She walked into her room and shuffling noises were heard. Finally she walked back out and brought a box into the living room.

"Open it," told Reena as she handed it over to her friend.

Sora could now feel great energy coming from it. She slowly opened the box. Inside, there was a silver chain which had in the middle of it a light blue stone held by small silver wires twirling around it. A soft light was coming out of the stone. The crystal was very special and it almost seemed like it was water even though the stone was very hard. The girl took the necklace in her hands and felt her chakra being connected to it. She looked up with a questioning look at her friend.

"It's an aqua stone, very rare. Legend has it that water dragons would create them and then offer it to a human worthy of their trust. It has the power to boost the energy of its owner, in one condition: that person has to have water as a chakra element. When you'll wear it, you'll feel more... connected to water I guess you could say. What it really does is that it stores a bit of your chakra and amplifies it for when you need it. It's really useful because with it, you'll learn all water based techniques much more quickly. Just be careful, it can drain your stamina more quickly if used wrong," she explained.

Sora looked at the stone once more.

"Why are you giving it to me?"

"Because your chakra element is water, and you're my friend," she answered gently.

"But you can make your chakra turn into water element too with the Houkou's power."

"That is true; however my natural element is lightning. Being connected to water just feels so…wrong to me. Now try it on!"

Sora smiled a bit at her friend's excitement. She took the necklace and attached it around her neck. Reena quickly got up and walked to her bathroom. She soon came out, afterwards, with a small mirror.

"It matches your eyes," she told her giving her the mirror.

The black hair girl looked in the mirror. It was true; the necklace was exactly the color of her eyes. She smiled weakly at her reflection.

"Sora..."

The girl looked up at her friend.

"What's wrong? Don't try to say nothing because I know you more than you think" Reena warned her.

"Something really stupid," Sora answered, looking at her reflection in the mirror.

Reena came to sit down beside her.

"Do you want to talk about it, we are alone here," she offered.

Sora hesitated a bit. If there was one person she likes to share her worries with, it was Reena. But she really didn't want to look like an idiot. She bit her thumb gently.

"Do... you find me ugly?" she finally asked with almost a whisper.

The question obviously took Reena by surprise. She never thought her friend would, one day, ask such a question.

"Of course not...! Where did you get such an idea?" she said softly.

Sora didn't answer and looked down, but it was too easy to guess.

"Ino," Reena mumbled spitefully. She really didn't like the blonde girl.

Sora let out a sigh as an answer.

"Don't listen to her. You know what I think?" she asked before answering with a smile, "I think that the people that are trying too hard to look good, like Ino, usually are the one that turns ugly. But don't go tell her that, or you might not get to see me live another day".

Reena's comment made the girl feel better, somehow. They both stayed silent for a bit. Sora was looking at her necklace, truly liking it. Finally, her friend broke the silence.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Now it was Sora's turn to be surprise. Reena rarely, to say never, asked questions.

"Umm... Sure." she answered.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but is there anyone, by any chance that you like?"

Sora closed her eyes. She was getting really sick and tired of that question. However, Reena had asked it in a different way; a nice way where she had given her the option to not answer.

"I'm not too sure about it. I mean, it might just be temporary, like just a crush..."

"It's good that you don't skip to conclusions, but don't let your chance slip by either."

The black hair yawned involuntarily.

"We should get to sleep now, it's getting late" said the white hair girl looking up at the time.

"Hey Reena, may I stay here for the night. I'll sleep on your sofa," asked Sora.

She really looked exhausted. But she also didn't want to be alone. She wanted to sleep where there would be someone nearby. Tonight wasn't a good night to be by herself.

"I don't mind. I'll go get a good pillow and warm blankets," the white hair girl said as she got up.

Sora stayed on the sofa while her friend was gone to get all the stuff for her. She really liked the necklace. She felt like trying its power right now, but she managed to convince herself to try it only tomorrow.

"Here you go, Sora" said her friend as she came back with the necessary things. "Have a good night!"

"Thanks. You too!"

Wrapping herself in the blankets, it didn't take too long for sleep to come. She was too exhausted to stay awake any longer.

* * *

_**And this is it for now!**_

_**I'd really like to have some review in order to continue. I want to know if you guys think it's good because honestly, right now, I don't even know if you guys like it or not, if it's good, etc..."**_

_**So, as always, show some love! Please review!**_


	4. The scroll merchant

_**Hello everyone, thank you for reading this far.**_

_**I'd first like to thank coolblast for the really great review you did. It encouraged me to continue.**_

_**I'm also going to be a little bit slower at updating this story since I'm kind of caught in this storm called mid-terms... haha...**_

_**I'll do my best to keep updating!**_

_**I'm also surprised to see how my other story Anbu's life  is so popular. I really didn't expect to see such a popularity with that story!**_

_**As always, I don't own Naruto or anything related to it.**_

* * *

Shikamaru was walking down a road. He had just crossed his sensei while walking with Choji. Asuma had told them to meet at the training ground number 42. The boy offered to go tell Sora while his sensei would go see Ino. Choji, on the other hand, decided that he would go get some food first.

When he arrived at the girl's house, he knocked on the door. He waited for a while, but nobody answered. He tried the door knob; it was locked.

"She's not there," he told himself.

He looked down at the ground. The soil seemed like the kind to keep footprints. He could see his own but nothing more.

_She didn't even sleep here,_ he thought. _Maybe she's in town…_

He turned to walk back. Konoha was huge. It would take a while for him to find the girl.

At that thought, the boy let out a sigh while putting his hands in his pockets. "What a drag."

* * *

When Sora woke up, she could smell pancakes. She got up quickly and went to the kitchen to see Reena making breakfast.

"Need help?" she asked.

Reena turned her head.

"Oh no no! I'm fine. I'm almost finished, so if you want to take a shower now, we'll be ready to eat afterward."

"Okay! Second door on the left?" Sora made sure.

"Exactly," her friend answered.

Sora took a quick shower. When she came out, as promised, breakfast was ready. She ate quickly with her friend and helped her clean the dishes as a thanks for the meal. Finally, before leaving, Reena gave her friend a blue scroll.

"There's a special technique inside. The hand signs are a bit long but with the necklace I gave you, you should be able to do it easily after performing it once," she explained.

Nodding her head, Sora opened the scroll. The list was indeed very long. At the top, she could read: _Water release: water dragon blast technique_.

"Awesome! I'm excited to try it!" said the black hair girl in excitement.

"Just be careful with it, it's very powerful," warned her friend. "If you want, we could practice it later?"

"Sure! But now I need to leave. I want to go see my sensei since he said that we might meet up today."

"Oh wait! I'll walk with you! Sakura wanted to see me," remembered Reena.

The white hair girl ran around her house to gather her things. When she was done, she met her friend at the front door.

"I'm ready, let's go!"

They both walked out, and Hikari locked the door behind them. The girls then headed to town. On the way, they heard a merchant, who seemed new around, advertising his merchandise.

"Out of techniques? Come and get new ones here!"

They went to see closer. The shop was surrounded by little kids studying in the academy. Reena took a scroll with the symbol lightning on it. They both looked inside. On the top it said: _Lightning release: Dragon's lightning rage_. Right under it, there was a bunch of random handsigns written under.

"Those are not the right hand signs," murmured quietly Reena, knowing the hand signs of this technique by heart.

"We should report it then," told her Sora.

"We can go together at the end of the day," offered the white hair girl.

"Sure, if he's still here."

"Oh trust me. He won't go anywhere with the money he's making," pointed out Reena.

"Yeah, you're right," agreed Sora.

As she agreed, they heard someone shout:

"There you are Sora!"

Sora turned around to see who called out her name. Shikamaru was walking toward where the two girls were standing.

"Hey Shika, what are you doing here?"

"Searching for you. Asuma-sensei wants to see us at the training ground number 42," he answered.

"Then I'll have to leave you Reena," the black hair girl said to her friend.

"Meet you in front of the Hokage office at four then?"

"Okay!" agreed the girl.

She then headed off with Shikamaru toward the training ground. However, something was off. Their usual comfortable silence didn't feel as nice for either of them.

Getting closer to the training ground, the boy stopped. This atmosphere was, for some reason, really getting to him. Sora turned around to look at him.

"Shikamaru, why are you stopping?"

"Where were you last night?"

"Um, well at Reena's place," Sora answered, not quite understanding why it mattered to the boy.

"What was wrong yesterday then?"

The girl bit her bottom lip. She wasn't ready to cover that kind of topic with Shikamaru. Heck, probably she would never be. Not knowing what to answer and feeling trapped, she naturally started feeling mad. At the boy's surprise, she turned around and said harshly while walking away:

"Why am I suddenly being interrogated? If I wanted to share my personal life with you, then I would."

"Gee… I was just worried," mumbled Shikamaru dumbfounded.

"Then why don't you bother Ino instead?" she spat out, which she immediately regretted for various reasons.

She was angry in general but couldn't really pinpoint to whom it was directed now. Thoughtful, she spent the rest of the walk staring at the ground quietly.

When they arrived at the training ground, the others were already there. Ino was sitting down on the ground, choji was eating chips and Asuma was holding four colored scarf in one hand and smoking with the other one.

"You're finally here," said Ino as she got up.

"Yeah, sorry if we're late," said Sora while giving a mean look at Shikamaru, which didn't go unnoticed to the blonde girl.

"Doesn't matter, as long as you're here," said the sensei.

"So why did you want to see us, Asuma-sensei?" asked Choji.

"For a little test."

"A test? Why?" asked Sora worried.

"To see where you are at. You are all Chuunins now," answered Asuma.

"So what kind of test is it?" asked the black hair boy.

"You will all have a scarf attached around your waist. Your goal is to get the more scarf you can in the next four hours. I will be here just to make sure that no one gets killed," he explained.

"If we get ours stolen, can we try to get it back?" asked curiously Ino.

"Yes, now choose the scarf you want," Asuma said as he holded out the scarf in front of him.

Sora took a sky blue one, Choji took a grass green one, Ino took a dark purple one, and Shikamaru took a black one.

"At the count of three you can start. 1… 2…" counted the sensei.

Everyone got ready to jump. They were all waiting for the magic number.

"3" finally said the man after a drastic wait.

The whole team hid. The training ground was perfect. It had a lot of trees and bushes, and to top it all, a huge river running through it.

Sora was hiding high in a tree. From there, she had a good view of the ground while being well hidden. She was also listening carefully for any sounds while trying to calm down the storm of thoughts raging in her head. Everything seemed peaceful for now...

* * *

_**This is it for now. It's a bit shorter so I can set up the next chapter properly!**_

_**As always, share the love, please review/fav. Comments would be highly appreciated!**_


	5. The test

**In case of confusion, I did delete the first chapter. I'm sorry guys! It's just I had way too many people reading it and not reading the rest...**

**Oh wow. Sorry about the humongous wait! I hope that the length of this chapter will compensate :)**

**Anyways, thank you guys for your patience. Let me know what you think! Please? **

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Damn it.**_

* * *

Shikamaru was hiding in high bushes. On the ground, in front of him, he had all his stuff spread out. While making a mental of what was available to him, the boy let out a sigh and put everything back in his pouch. His mind was still off wondering what was wrong with Sora.

He listened for any noise. It would be better if he didn't have to fight someone, so a sneak attack would put him at advantage. The boy then heard a noise that made him smile: a rustling chip bag. He got out of the bushes and walked silently toward the sound. As Shikamaru got closer, he shoved his hand in his pouch and took out a smoke bomb. He was convinced that he could make it quick and have a good escape.

When the boy moved slowly the bushes in front of him, all he saw was a bag left on the ground.

_Choji set a trap?_ thought the boy surprised. He looked around and that's when he saw a couple of strings on the ground.

"Looks like he's going to get fooled by his own trap," he murmured as he jumped in a close by tree.

He took out a shuriken and threw it at one of the strings, cutting it on the way. As the string was cut, the boy could hear a little bell ring.

"I'm waiting for you, Choji," said Shikamaru with a smirk.

* * *

Sora was still waiting patiently in her tree when she heard a little bell ring. Just a few minutes later, the girl heard a loud rumbling noise. Curious, she decided to go see. While staying hidden, she jumped from tree to tree. She soon found a place filled with smoke. The wind shortly blew everything away. When the girl could finally see, she saw, in the middle of the clearing, Choji standing and scratching his head but with no scarf.

"Looks like his plan didn't work," mumbled the girl.

A sudden rustling noise came behind her. Sora jumped around just in time to see Ino holding her hands in a triangle formation in front of her.

"Mind transfer jutsu."

Ino's mind took over the girl's body.

"And that's what you get for letting your guards down," chimed the blonde girl inside Sora's body.

She made the black hair girl take off her scarf and attached it around her own currently unconscious body. She then made her jump off the tree and, in mid-air, crossed her hands in an X while saying:

"Release!"

Ino's mind went back to her respectful body. Sora also slowly took over her body, just in time to let out a scream as she saw the ground coming up fast and nothing to possibly stop her fall.

* * *

Shikamaru was walking away while keeping his guards up. Just like Ino, he now had two scarves: a black and green one. He also managed to use only a shuriken and a smoke bomb. He just had to find the other scarves while make sure he doesn't get his stolen.

A scream suddenly grabbed his attention. Something happened and he had recognized Sora's voice. If she got attacked, she probably didn't have her scarf anymore. He looked up at the sky. He wanted to go see if she was okay but was afraid that it could be another trap.

"Why not," he said quietly, finally giving in to the urge of helping her.

He then headed in the direction he heard the scream. When he arrived on the spot, the boy saw Sora lying on the ground. She was bleeding horribly. He looked around but no one was there, not even his sensei.

Shikamaru picked up the girl and headed to a place well hidden with bushes and trees. When he laid her down, he checked her pouch to find the bandages that she usually carried around for her team. The boy then covered her wounds with them, stopping the bleeding. He pulled the girl close to the water. Not only would it wake her up, but it could possibly refresh her.

The black hair boy saw that she was already slowly waking up. He would have loved to stay with her so she could see that he took the risk to help her. That way, she would stop being mad at him which really bugged him. But he couldn't. He also had to think of the test. Sadly, he jumped away, letting her wake up alone.

* * *

When Sora opened her eyes, the first thing she wondered was how long she had been unconscious. She looked up at the sky. Not too long from what she could figure. She then saw that she wasn't at the same spot that she had fallen. On top of that, she was bandaged up. Someone took the time to help her. Was it Choji? She remembered that it happened close to where the brown hair boy was.

She then saw the river. It could be helpful to her. Sora didn't have any scarf anymore. In other words, she had nothing to risk anymore. The girl decided that it would be her turn to create a trap. She wanted payback.

* * *

Shikamaru was hiding in a tree not too far from where he left the black hair girl. He was trying to figure out another plan in order to get at least another scarf. While he was thinking, he noticed a movement. Looking carefully, he saw Sora walking in a wide open place close to the river.

_She's fine_… he thought relieved.

But something interesting caught his attention. His partner had a black scarf around her waist. The boy touched his own scarf. He still had both of them. He smiled as he knew what this meant: it was a trap. She was trying to attract someone to steal their scarf.

She then turned her back on the training ground, facing the river and faking putting her guard down. Shortly after, he saw Ino appearing. She had both a purple and a blue scarf. It was tempting to just jump in and try to steal them but if he did so, he would be stuck fighting both girls.

"Hey Sora, got a new scarf for me?" shouted out Ino.

"Only if you can get it from me," answered the black hair girl who didn't bother to turn around.

"Won't be too hard, now will it? I already got your first one after all. But come to think of it, isn't it black?" pointed out the blonde girl.

"Yeah, why? You're becoming color blind?" Sora asked with her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You got it from Shikamaru," said Ino with that annoying tone that simply got on her teammates' nerves. "What did you do, ask nicely?"

Shikamaru frowned from where he was hiding. What was In implying?

"What do you mean," asked the black hair girl, tensed

"Oh, come on! He's the only guy I can guess that you would like!"

It caught Shikamaru off guard. Sora liked someone and he hadn't noticed it.

The comment ticked off Sora. She quickly did a couple of hand signs and said:

"Water release: Multi arms jutsu"

Water from the river came out and did a circle around her. Strips of water stretched out in the air, having the effect of octopus arms which Sora could control with her chants like a puppet.

Ino took out several shurikens and threw them at the girl. The young blue eyes girl moved her hands, making the water move in front of her to block the flying projectiles. She then hit the air in front of her, making the water arms dash towards the blonde girl, hitting the ground as the girl dodged them. As a counter, Ino made a hand sign, making clone illusions. All of them dashed at the same time. Sora twisted her hands while crossing them and the water arms twirled around her. She then hit the air downward, making some of the water hit around her. The shock was enough to lift a lot of dust off the ground. Shikamaru, still hiding in a tree couldn't see the scene anymore.

He banging noise made by the water heavily hitting the ground stopped after a few minutes. It took a while before the wind blew away ball the dust. When the scene was visible once more, Ino could be see laying on the ground and Sora was walking toward her with her jutsu still active around her. As the girl was about to bend down in order to take her well-deserved scarves, a voice came out of some bushes close by.

"Human boulder!"

Choji came out rolling at high-speed, heading straight for Sora. The girl thankfully had the reflex of lifting her hands in the air, making the water surround her in a protective bubble. When the boy made contact with the water, the bubble, still holding the girl inside, flew all the way in the wide deep river. Sora Disappeared in the water and didn't come back.

* * *

Sora was at the bottom of the water, still within the protection of the bubble she had created at the last minute. She was looking at the top of the water, lost in her thoughts. Here, at the bottom of the river, she could think much more clearly.

"If I get one off guard, I get attack by another one," she thought out loud.

She put her hand in her pouch, checking what she had at her disposal. While rummaging around, something quickly grabbed her attention: a scroll. She pulled it out and looked at it.

With a sly smile, she said out loud: "They might know all my tricks, but they'll never expect his one."

She opened the scroll and saw how long the hand signs list was long. While reading over them, her right hand went up to her aqua stone around her neck. _I only need to do it once to remember it. That's what Reena said. Fine. I can do it underwater but I'll first need a distraction._

The girl made another hand sign.

"Water clones jutsu."

Several clones of her appeared outside of the bubble.

"Go!" she told them while pointing upward.

With a nod, the clones swam back to the surface.

"Let the fun begin," Sora said, looking back down at her scroll.

* * *

When the girl vanished in the water, Choji took his normal shape again. He then walked towards Ino who was still lying on the ground. As he untied the scarves and got up, his body froze. He turned around involuntarily and saw Shikamaru with both their shadows connected.

"Shadow possession, success."

He lifted his right arm and so did Choji, which was the arm holding the scarves. The black hair boy then faked throwing something and his victim threw the scarves to him. As Shikamaru was about to catch them, someone or something cut by, grabbing the objects on the way. The boy broke his technique and looked to see what stole the scarves.

"Wow, Shikamaru. Thanks for making it so easy," said Sora wish a proud smile.

Soon did the boys realize that it was just a fake when they saw several other clones jump out of the water. They all started to fight, the boys trying to find the real Sora. In the confusion, Ino woke up and when she saw a clone with her scarves, she jumped on it. Angrily, she tried to retrieve them.

The fight went on until a huge wave suddenly was suddenly seen scrolling the river. The clones looked at the river then at each other with a knowing smile.

"Have a good time guys!" they all said at the same time before disappearing, leaving a puddle of water where they once stood.

"Wait. What the hell was that? Where's the real Sora?" asked Ino, looking at the guys.

But the boys were as clueless as her. A noise coming from the river grabbed their attention. Turning around, they could see Sora standing on top of the water.

"Hey guys, missed me?" asked the real Sora.

She looked at the same time mad and irritated which, to put simply, made her look scary. The girl had a plan and no one would get in her way to stop her this time. She started to do several hand signs.

Noting the complexity of the technique, Shikamaru panicked and threw several kunais. However, they were quickly blocked by a leftover clone that jumped out of the water. Following the boy's train of thoughts, Ino tried to throw some shurikens but it also missed. Shikamaru attached an explosive on a kunai knife and threw it. As the water clone caught it, it exploded, leaving the way open. As the boy took out more kunai knives, Sora shouted:

"Too late!" She performed her last hand sign and said: "Water release: water dragon blast jutsu!"

The water around her started to form into a gigantic beast. When it completed it's shape, it had roughly the height of the Hokage's office. Expressions of surprise and terror could be seen on everyone's face.

"This is going to hurt!" yelled out Choji as he walked back.

The beast growled. Suddenly Asuma jumped in and shouted:

"Sora, you have to stop! This technique might kill someone!"

"I...I can't! It's too powerful!" she told him in terror.

She had indeed lost control. The best finally dashed toward them. The man took out a special snift, concentrated his chakra in it, and threw it toward Sora. The chakra helped the knife go through the beast and hit the girl in her shoulder. She yelled out in pain and the beast technique broke over them, soaking everyone on the ground.

Sitting on the water, Sora was trying to pull out the knife from her shoulder but the shape of it only caused more pain which led her to lose of concentration over the chakra that maintained her on the surface of the river. She was slowly going down. Asuma ran to her, lifted her, and brought her back to the dry surface. As she was lying in her sensei's arms, the others got closer.

"That was intense," mumbled Choji.

Shikamaru was standing there, looking at her still in shock.

"What were you trying to do? Kill us?!" yelled Ino, also traumatized.

"I...didn't want to. It was an accident…" Sora said weakly from losing too much blood.

Feeling guilty, she looked at Shikamaru but all she received was an intense look. Sora finally lost consciousness.

"The test is over," Asuma said as he started walking toward the hospital.

"I'll go with you," said Shikamaru.

"Fine. You guys can go home," Asuma said as he looked at Ino and Choji.

No one said anything, still too in shock.

* * *

**And that is it for now! Share the love, write a review! Reviews = motivation!**

**Seriously, I really need to know what you guys think!**


	6. Depression

**In case of confusion, I did delete the first chapter. I'm sorry guys! It's just I had way too many people reading it and not reading the rest...**

**I think I'm doing well with updates now… What do you guys think?**

**So just a bit of a heads up, my OC, Reena, can get angry pretty quickly and she does have a way to get on Shikamaru's nerves. Also, reminder: Reena does have the five tails in her :D**

**Anywho, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

_**Disclaimer**_**: Tried to by the rights of Naruto on ebay, didn't work...so I still don't own Naruto -sigh-**

* * *

Sora slowly opened her eyes. She was lying down on a bed, with blankets on top of her.

"Hey, our little princess is waking up!" said a familiar voice.

The girl turned her head to see Reena sitting in a chair beside the bed with a book on her lap.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

The black hair girl didn't answer. She touched her sore shoulder where she had been hurt. Her friend noticed it

"Don't worry, they healed your shoulder. You shouldn't feel any more pain."

"Yeah, they didn't have a choice, now did they? I think they were scared that you were going to rip off their head if they didn't help her right away," said another familiar voice in a very annoyed tone.

That's when she saw him. Beside the window, Shikamaru was standing there, looking outside.

"Maybe, but you don't need to be so rude about it," replied Reena in a childish voice. She then added with a frown, "Besides, what's wrong with you anyways? You've never had issues with my ways before. Ever since that test happened, you have changed and that is certainly not a compliment."

The last part seemed to set off the boy. He turned around and walked up to Reena to face her. The white hair girl got up, crossing her arms with a dangerous expression on her face. Her five tails' instincts instantly flared up. They both seemed very pissed off. Even the atmosphere in the room became very cold.

"Maybe if you hadn't given her a scroll for such a dangerous technique, she wouldn't have tried to kill us all," he said in a low dangerous tone.

"How was I supposed to know that she would have used it before we had any time to practice it safely? It's not like I didn't warn her!"

"You could have taught it to her right after you gave her that scroll!"

"Oh for god's sake, get real. She was still mentally exhausted from her day. Guess what? She's a HUMAN BEING. I actually thought you were smart, damn it!"

As their argument continued, they kept talking louder and louder, which was really surprising from Shikamaru's part. They were at the point of yelling when Asuma finally came in the room.

"That is ENOUGH! We can hear you both from the main entrance of this hospital. If you guys want to fight, do it somewhere else!"

His presence seemed to have brought both of them back to reality. Feeling bad, they turned to look at Sora. The girl was sitting in her bed, looking down at her hands, tears rolling down her cheeks. Frustrated that he could have caused that, Shikamaru let out a sigh and walked out of the room without saying anything.

"I'm really sorry Sora… We both know better than that…" Reena apologized softly.

The black hair girl remained quiet as her friend walked out of the room.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Asuma.

"Who cares…" finally said the girl while hiding her face.

* * *

Shikamaru was walking up a hill. It had been now over an hour that he left the hospital. He knew that she would be there since her and Sora used to go there whenever they were upset about something or simply wanted to get away from everything.

As he arrived at the top, as expected, he saw Reena. She was sitting there, her chin resting on her arms that were crossed over her knees, looking at the village.

"What do you want…" said the girl in a tone that seemed so… depressed.

The boy scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "I'm here to apologize. Gee, I don't know what was wrong with me."

"I apologize too. I should have known better," she answered.

Walking up beside her, he asked: "Can I sit here?"

"Yeah...sure."

They sat there in silence, staring at the village quietly. From where they were sitting, they could see all the activity going on through the streets and even on the roofs. This relaxing sight made Shikamaru promised to himself that he would accept Sora's next invitation to come relax here. She had bugged him so often about coming here but having already found his favorite spot in the village, on one of the roofs, he had always refused her invitations.

"So… did she manage to really pull it off? The technique, I mean," Reena asked, breaking the silence.

"Heh, yeah. It was really terrifying how well she performed it, if you ask me."

They fell silent again. Being friends back at the academy had been great. Even when he had discovered that one of his childhood friends had the five-tails demon inside her, he had remained calmed, deciding that she was still the one whom she has already been. It was the same situation than Naruto, when he thought about it. The exception, really, was that she was more relaxing. So when she and Sora hung out together, it didn't feel as much as a drag to be around her.

"Hey Shikamaru…"

"Yeah?"

"Keep a close eye on Sora."

What she said definitely snapped him out of his thoughts. He stared at her, studying her expression carefully. Something was bothering her.

"What's making you say that?"

"Well… um… how can I say this…" she started, twisting her fingers together uncomfortably.

"If it's related to the five-tails, just go ahead."

Reena looked at the boy in confusion.

"Sora told me," he answered her silent question.

"Gee, that girl tells you way too much!" she said while rubbing the back of her neck.

Shikamaru laughed. He realized that the girl did tell him a lot. He just never really realized it.

Reena sighed.

"Look. It doesn't happen often but my instincts are buzzing. I can sense that something nasty is going to happen. I just can't tell what. The best that I can get out of it is that it might be related to Sora… But it's only a maybe."

"And why do you want me to look over her?" asked Shikamaru.

"Well, for several reasons. First, I received a C-rank mission and I'm leaving tomorrow. Second, you're on her team. And finally, I can't tell you the other one because it's a secret," she finished with a huge grin on her face, thinking about her friend's secret.

"Gee. What's up with you girls and secrets? Such a drag…" said Shikamaru.

"Hey!" shouted out Reena pouting.

With a light chuckle, he got up.

"If I want to look over her, I better start now and head back to the hospital, I guess. Are we okay?" he asked to make sure.

Reena laughed lightly, "Yeah, we are!"

"Well, I'm going now!" he finally said while walking away, waving a hand in the air for his friend.

* * *

When Shikamaru arrived at the hospital, he headed directly for Sora's room. Little did he know that the girl had already left, until he reached her room that is. Seeing it empty only made him more confused. Walking back out, he headed for the main office.

"Hey, I'm here to see a friend but she's not in her room anymore," Shikamaru told the receptionist.

"Her name?" asked the woman.

"Sora. Sora Tonbo."

While shuffling through her papers, the woman mumbled the name several times.

"Ah! Tonbo! Yes, it would like she has left not too long ago," said the reception is gleefully.

"Already?"

"Yes, yes! It would seem that she has requested to leave despite the doctor's medical opinion."

"Damn it, Sora..." mumbled the boy turning around to leave. Just as he was about to open the door, he remembered his manners, turned around and thanked the lady who, thankfully, hadn't seem offended at all.

Once he was outside, the boy started to think about where the girl would go. The only valid conclusion he came up with was her house. And so, he was off to go see her.

* * *

Sora unlocked her front door of her house and walked in. Looking around, she quickly realized that there was nothing to do. She let out a sigh and decided to go to the living room. Sitting down on one of the sofa, she brought her knees up against her. She felt awfully depressed. In fact, she wanted to be disconnected from the world for a while. She wanted to be alone where people wouldn't fight over her stupidity.

Crossing her arms on top of her knees and putting her head down on it, she started to cry. She hated herself more than anything. Even worse, she had no one to talk to, no shoulder to cry on, no mother's warm caresses... no more family. It was one of those moments where she wished she had perished with her parents. She didn't want to be alone anymore.

She was quickly brought back to reality when a knock on her door was heard. Sora hesitated. Finally, without lifting her head, she shouted: "who's there?"

* * *

"It's me," simply said Shikamaru, knowing she'd recognize him.

It was starting to be dark outside. He knew he'd be late for supper but he would find a good excuse to tell his mother so she won't break his ears.

"Go away."

He hadn't expected that. He had thought that she would open the door, talk to him so he could apologize to her, and go home happy. He sighed. Guess things were going to be a tad more complicated.

"Sora, open up. I want to talk to you."

"I said : go away!"

Her voice had come more clearly this time. He had never heard her sound like this and unsure what to do, he finally decided not to try again. Maybe just a good night's sleep would make her feel better.

"I'll come back tomorrow..." he finally said.

He then walked away, never getting an answer.

* * *

"Shikamaru Nara. You are late," said a man when he came in.

"I know dad. I had some business to do," he answered, annoyed.

"What kind of business?" asked the man in a strict tone.

Shikamaru looked down. Truth was, he had been so busy thinking about the girl that he had finally forgotten to make up an excuse.

"It was related to Sora," he finally admitted.

"By the face you're doing, I'd guess that it didn't go as planned," said his dad, softening his voice at his son's expression.

"Yeah, she refused to let me in her house to talk. Girls are too complicated. First they want attention, then, when you give them some, they make a huge drama about it!"

His dad laughed which made the boy even more annoyed.

"Think of it, what could make her act that way?"

Shikamaru felt a shot of guilt run through him. He knew all too well the answer.

"If you want my advice, go back there tomorrow. Stay the whole day if you have to."

"But that's such a drag..." the boy replied lazily.

"If you want to win her heart, you'll need to start making some sacrifices."

His dad's comment caught him by surprise.

"I don't..."

"Shut up and take the damn advice."

Shikamaru sighed and looked outside with mixed feelings. What did he feel for her?

* * *

**Woah, end of the chapter! Double update in the same week? Sweet, isn't it?**

**As per usual, share the love, write a review :))**


	7. Happy Birthday!

**So, for some strange reason, I started writing more for this story and I ended up writing a LOT. Thus, like _ANBU's life_, I will be doing weekly updates!**

**Thanks _lovinurbuks _(did I write it properly?) for the review. I sure was happy to make a double update which led me to the weekly updates that I mentioned earlier. Nice, eh?**

**Onward****!**

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Naruto but I very damn well own this fanfic ;)**

* * *

When she woke up this morning, Sora felt empty. She felt like a ghost roaming around her own house as she look at all the mess which she had no energy to pick up. The only thing she did feel like doing was perhaps draw. On her way to the living room, she noticed a paper on the ground in front of the front door. Picking it up, she saw a really crappy drawing on a paper. At the bottom, she could read:

_Sora,_

_I had to leave really early for a mission today and didn't want to wake you up. I just want you to know how sorry I am about yesterday but if it makes you feel better, Shikamaru and I are okay now. _

_Reena_

_P.S.: if you can't guess what the drawing is, then just forget it. My drawing talents are embarrassing compared to yours!_

The girl kept staring at the picture but really couldn't figure out what it was. This kind of note would have normally made her laugh but not today.

Sora knew that what she was doing seemed stupid to others. Hell, it seemed stupid to herself. Although she couldn't explain it, she was hurting deeply on many levels. So when, this morning, Asuma had come by to knock on her door, she hadn't been very receptive. It just felt wrong to her to impose her presence on anyone anymore. She wasn't sure what she was going to do but right now, it just seemed wrong to go outside. Acting like she doesn't exist gave her some kind of comfort.

* * *

Around noon, Shikamaru reached the girl's house. He didn't want to come too early as she might still be sleeping but turns out that someone else came earlier. Walking closer to the house, the boy saw his sensei in front of the door.

"Sora, are you thinking about them? I know it's that time of the year…" the man said softly. But he was only rewarded with silence.

Seeing his student walking closer, he decided to change subject.

"Just promise me that you're at least eating?" Still no answer.

Asuma signed. Frustrated, he took out a cigarette and lit it up, thoughtful.

"She's still inside?" the boy asked.

"Yes…" his sensei answered, still frustrated, as he continued to smoke.

Shikamaru walked up to the door and knocked.

"Sora? I'm back like I promised."

"Go away," the two heard from outside.

Asuma started to cough in surprise. When he managed to breath normally again, he stared at the boy in wonder.

"That's already better than what I got," he told him.

"Well, it's not what I would have liked," frowned Shikamaru.

His sensei grew even more thoughtful. Then with a smile, he patted his shoulder and before walking away said:

"Well, better leave things up to you!"

The student watched the man walk away. Unsure what to do, he turned back to the door and said:

"I'm going to sit here outside. If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me."

Rewarded with silence once more, Shikamaru sat down with his back against the house's wall. Looking up at the blue sky, he wondered: _Just what am I doing?_

* * *

So, sure Sora had asked for company but she wasn't thinking of Shikamaru when she had wished it. She was thinking more about her family. Now, not only did she feel like a burden for everyone, she felt even worse about Shikamaru. Turns out that he came back the next day and the day after, still waiting for her to come out.

She opened slightly a curtain and looked outside. There, as promised, the boy was sitting in front of her house, his back against the house, sleeping. Ironically, it was exhausting for him to spend his days there doing nothing. Closing the curtain again, Sora had an idea. Walking in her kitchen, she looked around for what she had. Although she wasn't hungry and hadn't really eaten for the last few days, she still found enough stuff to make something decent.

After finishing what she hoped to be a delicious sandwich, she walked toward the front door. On her way, she stopped and checked once more through the window to make sure that Shikamaru was still sleeping. After confirming so, she took a small paper, scribbled on it quickly, slipped the note on the plate, and very slowly and quietly opened the front door.

* * *

Waking up, Shikamaru looked up at the sky to see how long he had slept. He was afraid that he would have missed something but then realized where he was. Sitting there all day was really getting to him. Stretching out, he noticed something on the ground beside him. There, beside him, was a plate with a sandwich which made him smile. He also saw a small paper on it. He took a look at it and read: _Please go home_.

As if she would see this as an answer, he crumbled the paper. At first, he had stayed there because he felt bad. Guilt had driven him to come back. Now, he was worried. It had been a couple of days and Sora still hadn't come out of her house.

Taking a bite in the sandwich, his stomach growled happily; turns out he was hungry. His mind soon travelled somewhere else. Going through all kind of things, his mind decided to start reflecting back on all his time he spent with his team. He didn't notice the sudden appearance of his father in front of him. Still munching on his sandwich, Shikamaru actually jumped when his dad finally spoke to him.

"Still here?"

Recovering from his shock, the boy looked up at his dad and asked: "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Choji came by today looking for you but you weren't home since you were sitting here."

"Just following your advice dad…" he said, rubbing his face.

"Choji wanted to know what you were planning on doing tomorrow," continued his dad as if his son hadn't said anything.

Shikamaru stretched once more. Sitting all day was making him sore.

"Probably come back here."

"On your birthday?"

The boy blinked. Mentally, he started calculating in his head how many days he's been here. His dad was right. Tomorrow was his birthday. His analytic mind started working automatically.

"Heh, it sure is," he answered with a smile, a plan slowly forming in his mind.

Seeing his son's mind at work, his dad smiled knowing that he had found a solution.

* * *

The next day, he walked up to the house and knocked on the door like he did every morning.

"Hey, it's me," he said without waiting for an answer.

"I still don't want to see anyone," Sora said near the door.

"You won't let me see you even on my birthday? I feel kind of hurt," he said while faking to be offended.

A silence followed and Shikamaru smiled, knowing that she was thinking. A few more minutes passed, before he heard a light click from the door. When it opened, Sora was standing there looking awfully… well, like crap. Without saying a thing or even looking at him, she moved sideways to let him in. Walking in, he looked around to see the same old mess ruling the place.

"Happy birthday…" she said in almost a whisper as she closed the door.

"Thanks. How are you feeling?" he asked looking down at her.

"Really good," she answered still looking away.

He sighed and walked toward the living room. Finding a cleaned sofa, he sat down and asked:

"Sora, how are you really doing?"

She followed him slowly. Walking in the living room, she avoided his question and asked another one.

"Why are you wasting a day like today here?"

"Because I was worried for you."

As soon as he had answered, he noticed her expression becoming sadder. His answer had made her feel bad and more like a burden. Seeing this, Shikamaru took a deep breath and said:

"And because nothing else would make me happier than spend the day with you."

Sora looked up surprised. She definitely hadn't expected that kind of answer. Seeing her struggle with what to say, he added while rubbing his neck:

"So want to go eat ramen and then hang around?"

"Um… sure. I… just need to take a shower and get dress in something more, well, presentable."

He smiled. "I'll wait here."

She almost ran out of the living room to go get ready. Once she was out, he let out his breath, realizing that he had been holding it in. Not sure what to do, he started to look at the drawings on the table in front of him. They were really nice drawing, mostly of nature and, not so surprisingly, dragonflies. There were also writings on some of them, most of them looking like quotes but the author wasn't written.

When Sora came back in the living room, he was looking at one of the few pictures that had colour: a blue dragonfly. Looking up, he saw the girl wearing some of her usual clothing but she looked really nice to him. Not sure if he should complement her, he decided to talk about his drawings instead:

"You really have a great talent in drawing. Where do you get your quotes?"

"Oh… I just imagine most of them," she half lied.

He decided not to push any further, almost afraid of scaring her away. He quickly got up and said:

"Ready to go?"

"Sure!" she said with a half-smile.

She looked exhausted but there was at least a bit more energy on her face. They walked out, closed the door and started walking away.

"Hey, don't you need to lock your door?" he asked.

"Oh yeah!" she remembered. She quickly got back to the door, took out a key from her pouch, and locked the door. "Now, we're ready to go!"

Side by side, just like they always have, they walked silently all the way to the village.

* * *

The day had been a good day. Once they reached town, they went to eat ramen for lunch. Gradually, Shikamaru had managed to bring Sora out of her bubble. As they continued talking, it progressively felt just like it always had: the two of them just hanging out and relaxing.

When they were done eating, the girl had insisted on paying for his lunch. He resisted at first but seeing how happy it would make her, he finally gave in. Afterwards, while walking around, they started wondering about what to do. They boy suddenly had an idea and told her to follow him. A bit later, they had reached the hill where Shikamaru had met Reena a few days later. Sora seemed surprised by his idea.

"Well, I realized a few days ago how relaxing this place really was and since you used to invite me here all the time… that's where I got my idea," he said while rubbing the back of his neck.

She smiled. "I'm glad you do. Doesn't beat your usual spot though, right?"

"Actually…" he started. He took the time to lie down on his back and looked up at the clear blue sky. "I might actually have taken a liking in this place."

Sora sat down beside him. "You? Changing your preferences? Never thought I'd see that one day!" She laughed lightly.

Hearing her laugh made him feel better. All the remaining worry he had felt these last few days flew away at that moment. He closed his eyes in content and heard noise beside him. Opening one eye, he saw the girl had lied down beside him on the ground and was looking up at the sky like he had. Closing his eye again, he savored the moment.

* * *

When it was starting to be dark outside, the two decided that it would be time to go back to the center of the village. Reaching the village, they started to walk aimlessly. Still talking about random things, the girl heard something that made her stop.

"Out of techniques? Come and get new ones here!"

The girl spun around, recognizing all too well that line. There, on the side of the road, the same scroll merchant was selling his fake scrolls.

"Sora? What's wrong?"

Looking back at Shikamaru, she opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted.

"Shikamaru! Shikamaru!"

They turned around and saw Choji running toward them.

"There you are! With Sora too! So glad to see you again!"

The girl smiled sadly, remembering these last few days. Seeing her expression sadden, Shikamaru looked at his friend and tried to change the subject.

"What's up Choji?"

"Oh yeah! You have to follow me. I have something really awesome to show you!"

"What is it?" the black hair boy asked again.

"It's too amazing to explain it. You really need to see it. Come on!" Choji said while walking away in the direction he came from.

Shikamaru looked at Sora to see what she thought about it. She looked him and shook her shoulder, showing him that she was as clueless as him. Running after their friend who had already left without waiting for them, they didn't notice the scroll merchant studying carefully the young girl with a dragonfly symbol on the back of her shirt.

They ended up following their friend until they reached a restaurant.

"Food? That's your amazing thing Choji?" asked Shikamaru, unimpressed.

The boy laughed embarrassed and scratched his head.

"You'll see why I was so excited once you'll be inside!"

"Fine…" gave in the boy.

When Shikamaru walked in, Choji winked at Sora before they followed their friend in. That's when she knew that something was up. Once inside, they heard:

"Happy birthday!"

Further on the left, they saw Asuma and Ino sitting at a table with huge smiles on their face. Shikamaru chuckled.

"That's why Choji was being weird," he said.

"Damn it, Choji! You said he wouldn't expect anything!" shouted out Ino.

"Hey! He didn't say he expected it! Beside, look who else I found!" the brown hair boy said while giving a little push to Sora.

Asuma's smile grew even bigger.

"Sora! It's so nice to see you out and alive!"

The girl grew uncomfortable but still made an effort to smile.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Don't be, come on. Sit down with us!" her sensei said.

She didn't need to be told twice. Sitting down with her team, she watched them as they gave their gifts to Shikamaru. It made her feel even more uncomfortable as she realized that after spending a whole day with him, she had forgotten to buy him a gift.

After the gift opening session, the waiter arrived with their suppers. Shikamaru noticed Sora's sad expression. Making sure the others were distracted, he leaned close to her and whispered:

"Don't be sad. Coming out of your house and spending the day with me was enough of a gift to me."

She looked up at him to see him smiling and she reflected it.

"Thanks," she mouthed.

He nodded quickly and turned back to face his plate. Together, the team started talking about possibly getting another mission soon seeing how long it has been since the last one they had. Asuma took the opportunity to joke about creating another hard-core training for the team if they were too bored. He got several ugly looks as an answer which made him laugh out loud.

After the supper, everyone went their own separate way except for Shikamaru and Sora. Although the girl had insisted that the boy, with his arms full of gifts, should go back to his house, he decided to ignore her complaints and walk her back home, making up an excuse about how dangerous it was in the dark. She, of course, told him that she was a ninja, a chuunin nonetheless, but he ignored her again.

As they reached her house, they stopped in front of her house. Facing an awkward silence, Shikamaru spoke first:

"Promise me you won't go back to locking yourself in?"

She smiled. "I'll try."

"Well, I guess I should warn you that I will ask Choji to run down the door if I discover that you are," he said with a sly smile.

She laughed lightly. They then fell back in silence. Sora looked up at the starry sky.

"Great view, isn't it?"

The boy looked up and replied: "Yeah."

While he was distracted, Sora took the opportunity to get closer. She kissed him lightly on the cheek which surprised him. As he looked down into her eyes, she smiled and said:

"Thanks Shikamaru for what you did."

And without leaving him any time to respond, she grabbed her keys, unlocked the door, and went in her house. Just before closing the door, she told him:

"Good night!"

But the boy was still too surprised to answer quickly enough. When she closed the door, she put her back against the door with her hands by her side, thinking about what she just did. Squeezing her eyes shut, she thought: _What the hell was I thinking?_

* * *

**Here you go guys! Lots of fluff. **

**I'm debating whether I should change the rating on this story from a T to an M. What are you thoughts? Also, aren't things going oh so smoothly? Could it be that something is coming? Dun dun dun! If you want to share your thoughts, feel free to do so in a review!**

**As per usual : share the love, write a review! Favs and reviews are good motivators. I'll be waiting impatiently until next Monday to know what you guys think!**


	8. Jealousy

**Hi everyone, thank you for still reading this far, the few that you are... I'm actually surprise to see that the other story which I'm writing in parallel is so popular. Is it because Kakashi is more popular than Shikamaru or because people don't like OCs stories? Kind of sucks considering how much more I wrote on this story...**

**Anyways, thank you _lovinurbuks_ for the usual review. I appreciate the time that you take to write them and I love reading your opinion. I think I'm taking a risky turn with my story starting from here but I find that it makes the story more interesting compared to if I had just jumped into the super over the top fluff right away. I really like to build it up :)**

**Let me know what you think guys?**

_**Disclaimer: **_**I don't own Naruto. If I did, I think I'd have my OCs running around in it! Haha..****  
**

* * *

Two days later, Sora was running around her kitchen, desperately looking for things to make lunch. Turns out that during her depression a few days ago, a lot of the food had rotten. Normally, this wouldn't be a crisis but since Asuma had invited himself over for lunch, she was panicking. With the help of Shikamaru, she had managed to feel better and she was determined to prove it to the man who was still worried.

Finally, she stopped running and stood in front of what she hadn't thrown out. There wasn't much. Determined to make it work, she ran to her room, grabbed her wallet and her usual attire and ran out of the house. Looking up at the sky, she decided that she would have enough time to swing by a grocery store and maybe even clean her house a bit. While running, she took her wallet out and calculated how much money she had leading her to decide which grocery store to go to. Reaching downtown, she zigzagged around the massive crowd and finally reached the grocery store she wanted to go to. Even inside the store, she kept rushing. She didn't want lunch to be a fluke as she also wanted to show Asuma how responsible she could be on her own.

After paying for her massive amount of groceries, she picked up three huge paper bags filled with her newly bought food and balancing everything in her arms, she started sprinting back to her house. However, as she turned the corner outside, she hit something or someone hard and fell on the ground.

"Ow!" she said as she sat back up and looked at all the food that had fallen on the ground.

"I'm so sorry! Are you ok?" asked a manly voice in front of her.

Looking up, she took notice of whom she had run into. A tall guy, about her age, with chocolate brown hair and hazel brown eyes, was staring down at her worried. The sight of him made her feel butterflies in her stomach, exactly like those she had been having recently when she hung out with Shikamaru. Getting on all four, she started picking her things while saying embarrassed:

"No, no! I should apologise. I wasn't looking at where I was going..."

The boy kneeled down and started helping her.

"I should have at least tried to catch you!" he told her with a smile.

Still not used to feeling the way she was, she tried avoid his stare and concentrate on the food. When they finished picking everything up, they got up with the bags in their arms.

"That's quite a lot for you to carry alone. Let me help you. I still got time before I need to go work," he proposed in a cheerful tone.

"Oh, I'm fine! I'm used to these kinds of things!" she blurted out.

"Haha, I insist!"

Without giving her time to refuse again, he picked one of the two bags she was carrying so she would now need to only hold one.

"So, where are we off to?" he asked with a huge smile.

"Oh, um... south. I mean the south sector, that's where I live," she answered uncomfortably. This guy was nice but he made her feel... different.

"South, huh? That's perfect! That's actually near where I have to work!"

As they both walked in the right direction, curiosity finally had gotten the best of the young girl.

"What do you do for work?"

"Oh, I'm a builder. My dad is an architect so he plans all the building and the team I work with makes sure that they become reality."

"Cool..." she said looking in front of her. She was so used to being surrounded by ninja friends that being friendly to someone who had a different career was something new.

"So which rank are you?" he asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" She looked at him confused.

"Well, I'm guessing by the headband around your neck that you're a ninja. So which rank are you?"

"Oh! I'm a chuunin!" she said proudly.

"Wow, at your age? You must be good!"

"I have great teammates," she answered giggling as she started feeling a little bit more comfortable.

* * *

Shikamaru walked in Ino's flower shop. As soon as the door was open, a little bell rang over his head. Almost immediately Ino popped up at the front of the store.

"Shikamaru, you came!" she said cheerily.

"Yeah, but I don't have much time Ino. What's up?"

"Well, I need to speak to you about important matter which may be just more urging than anything else."

The boy looked amused. "I promised lunch to Choji, so I'm pretty sure that's also important."

The girl, who looked over the boy's shoulder, mumbled, "Sora...?"

"Uh, yeah. We're probably swinging by her place later to see if she wants to hang out with us. Why?" he asked confused by the girl's illogical train of thoughts.

"No! I meant : oh my god, is that Sora?" she said as she grabbed her friend and spun him around.

Together, they looked outside to see Sora, holding a bag of groceries, talking and walking side by side with a handsome young man, who also was holding two grocery bags. They both seemed to be enjoying their current conversation.

Connecting two and two together, Ino smiled slyly and said with that famous annoying tone:

"Well, no wonder she's been hiding him. With a cutie like him, anyone would be jealous!"

Turning around, Shikamaru looked at Ino.

"Just what are you talking about?" he asked, now irritated by what he saw.

"Oh, come on! It was obvious! You remember how shy she got when sensei talked about love. She wouldn't tell me who it was but she couldn't hide it forever!" she answered all excited. The girl was sure that she had pierced her teammate's secret and was already thinking about who she should gossip to.

Knowing her usual train of thoughts, he tried to stop her.

"Ino! Leave her alone. If she didn't want you to know, then there must have been a reason."

But with his unconvincing tone and her determination, there was no stopping her. Seeing that this was going nowhere, Shikamaru decided it was time to leave.

"Hey! Where are you going?" the blonde girl asked.

"Out. I told you already. I'm meeting Choji," he replied, annoyed.

"Okay! Gee, sorry for asking!" the girl said on a defensive tone.

As he left, she leaned over her counter and started thinking. What had gotten into Shikamaru suddenly?

* * *

When they arrived at her house, Sora and the boy stopped in front of the door. The girl took her keys out, and inserted them in the door. She closed her eyes in frustration when she realized that she, once again, forgot to lock her front door.

"Something's wrong?" the boy asked.

Her eyes shot open. "Yes! No! I mean... actually yes. My house is a huge mess and it would be better if you didn't come in," she blurted out.

He laughed. "Trust me, I have it worse! We're only men living in my house."

Knowing that she can't change his mind, she finally decided to let him in. Bracing herself for the worse, she walked as fast she could to her kitchen, hoping he'd follow her just as fast but he didn't. Slowly, he walked behind her, taking the time to look around.

"That's a really nice place you've got there!" he told her a few minutes later when he reached the kitchen.

"Thanks," she said rubbing the back of her neck.

As he put his bags down on the counter, he turned to look at the girl.

"Hey, you know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"We never properly introduced ourselves. I'm Daichi!" he said as he stretched out his arm in front of him.

"Oh right! I'm Sora!" she introduced herself and grabbing his hand to shake it.

She was about to let go when she noticed that he was still holding on. Looking into her eyes, he said:

"Want to go out with me?"

"Huh?!"

Sora had been so surprised that she didn't know what to say. She never faced that kind of situation and her only reaction was to pull her hand away.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I was thinking about it all day, so I came to forget how this would seem sudden to you..."

Sora looked down to her feet.

"I-I'm sorry! I can't accept!"

"Oh? Are you already with someone? I'm sorry, I didn't check first!"

"No, no! That's not it!" she said while waiving her hands in front of her. "I'm just... not ready for this kind of thing!"

The boy stared at her and smiled softly. "You have never gone out officially on a date?"

"Um, well...no," she said bringing down her hands.

"How about this then: give it a shot and come on a date with me tonight. After that, if you don't like it, we'll stop it there."

The girl studied Daichi's face. All she could see was sincerity and kindness. Finally, she asked:

"Can I think about it?"

"Of course!" he replied happily. "I'll be working until four today at the construction site near here. If you decide to try it out tonight, come and see me before then!"

"Wait, you mean the little school they're building?"

"That's us!" he answered proudly.

"Woah!"

"So think about it, ok? I need to go work now but I hope I'll see you later!" he said while heading toward the door.

"Ok! Have a good day!"

"Yeah, you too!"

And as quickly as she had met him, the boy had left.

* * *

As soon as Asuma had knocked on the door, he heard:

"Come in, sensei!"

He opened the door and walking in, he was surprised to find the place the exact opposite from what he expected: clean. Walking toward the dining room, which was connected to the kitchen, he soon found Sora putting the final touch on their lunch.

"Do you have to call me sensei even though we're alone?" he asked knowing full well the answer.

"Yes. We have already covered this. Although you are my godfather and legal guardian, I am still to honor you with the title 'sensei'," she told him, bringing two very well elaborated bento box on the table. "Eat up!" she added with a smile.

"Well, you're awfully happy. This is night and day compared to a few days ago. What got you in such a good mood?" he asked while digging in his food. The taste was amazing.

"There was a turn of event this morning that I never expected. It just put me in a really good mood," she told him in a cheerful tone.

"Oh? Care to share?"

A light blush appeared on the girl's face which grabbed his attention.

"Not now, but maybe later? What did you want to see me for?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Hm. Well, I don't want to ruin your mood but I'm here to talk about how you are feeling. It's almost that time of the year..." he said softly, studying her expression.

In a matter of seconds, he watched her face go from the happiest expression he had seen from her in a while to a much more serious and sad one. It broke his heart to know that he was the cause of it.

"You mean the date that my parents died."

"Yes," he answered still softly.

She put down her chopsticks and rested her hands on her lap as she stared at him.

"After all these years, it still hurts just as much. I would have thought that it would become easier to bear with over time..."

Asuma stared at her with care.

"I know and I wish I could do something about it. But I'm still here if you ever want to talk more about it or if it becomes too painful. I agreed to let you live your independency but it doesn't mean that you need to live through everything on your own. If for any reason you need my help, just say the word."

Sora had picked up her chopsticks again and started picking at her food.

"I know... And I truly do appreciate your intention."

There was a silence that settled in for a few minutes, as if they had continued to share their conversation quietly. As he was about to compliment her on how amazing her lunch was, a loud knock was heard on her front door. The girl looked up in confusion

"Were you expecting anyone?" her sensei asked.

"No, at least not that I can remember. You were the only one I had plans with today."

"I'll go check for you," he said with a smile as he got up.

A few seconds later, Sora heard voices coming from the front of her house.

"Sensei? We didn't expect to see you here!"

"Well, here I am Choji," the man answered with a mocking tone.

"Is Sora here?" asked a second voice.

"I certainly hope so Shikamaru. This is her house after all," the man continued joking. "Come in!"

Sora hid her face in one of her hands. Whoever asked her if they could come in?

When they walked in, the first thing Choji did was check out the lunches sitting on the table.

"These smell good! Did you make them?" he asked the girl.

She smiled. "Yeah, if I would have known that you two would come by, I would have also prepared you some."

"In other words, don't touch my lunch!" Asuma said with a laugh.

"Beside, we already ate Choji," Shikamaru told him.

Sora looked at her black hair friend curiously. Something felt different about him. Usually, he would have joked with his friend about eating again but not this time.

Noticing her curiosity, Choji told her: "Don't pay him too much attention. He's been grumpy ever since this morning."

Shikamaru ignored the comment as he sat down at the table. Not knowing what to do, Sora got up and offered to prepare some tea for her new guests which Choji accepted happily. While she was behind the kitchen counter getting the tea ready, the girl finally took pity on her friend who was now drooling over her bento box. She told him that he could take it, pretexting that she was already full. Asuma sighed with discontent but didn't peep a word. Not once, through the whole process, did Shikamaru say a thing. It was becoming clear at this point that something was bothering him.

Bringing tea to the table for her guest, she sat back down in her seat and asked the black hair boy: "So what's up with you?"

"Just thoughtful today," he answered her quickly as if to get it over with.

Now it was Asuma's turned to be surprise. Those two had gotten considerably close recently and now the boy was giving her the cold shoulder. Deciding not to push the matter any further, Sora looked at her sensei and asked:

"Are we planning on meeting up for training soon? I know Ino's been busy with business at her family shop with her mother gone on vacation but I was thinking that it would still be nice to at least meet up."

"Good point," the man said between two bites. "How about we meet tomorrow at noon?" I'll check to see if Ino will be able to meet us. Usual training ground since we won't do anything fancy this time."

Everyone agreed silently. Soon enough, Choji finished the food he had.

"So, Sora. We actually came here to see if you weren't too busy. Did you want to hang out with us this afternoon?"

Thinking about the cleaning she had started to do while preparing lunch, the girl kindly declined.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass for today."

Beside her, Shikamaru sighed and got up.

"There, you got your answer Choji. Now let's go." And without waiting for a reply, he left the dining room.

Utterly confused, the girl looked at her teammate then at her sensei to realize that they were just as dumbfounded as her. Deciding that she should go see what's wrong with him after all, she got up and walked after Shikamaru. Walking outside, she found him with his back against her house, arms crossed, and looking at the sky. She took the time to close door for privacy then asked:

"Seriously, Shikamaru. What's wrong? Did I offend you by not accepting the offer to hang out with you?"

Still not looking at her, he said: "Of course not. You can hang out with whoever you want."

"But I'm not planning on seeing anyone else this afternoon…?"

He looked down and stared at her angrily. "Stop acting like that. Ino and I saw you this morning walking with this guy. So just stop hiding him."

She stared at him blankly for several seconds before realizing who he was referring to: Daichi.

"Hiding...? Good lord, Shikamaru, I ran into him this morning! Literally! I never met that guy before."

"Of course you didn't. You think, after all this time, I don't know how you act with people you have just met?"

"Wait, why do you care so much about him? Even better, why should I even explain myself to you in the first place?!"

If her happiness hadn't been completely killed with her earlier conversation with Asuma, it definitely was now. Before the boy could answer, the door opened beside them. They both turned to see Choji standing there, unsure if he should say something to help the two of them.

"Took you long enough. Let's go." Shikamaru told him.

Choji looked at his friend who started walking away and then at the girl, who stared at Shikamaru with crossed arms, hurt painted all over her face. He quickly asked her if she was okay, which she answered with a quick nod, and then ran after his friend.

Walking out of the house too, Asuma saw Sora watching the boys walking away. To his surprise, she tightened her grip on her arms and yelled:

"Just walk away like you always do, Shikamaru! Walk away like the coward you are!"

The sensei looked at the boy to see his reaction but either he didn't hear her or pretended not to. He then saw the girl wipe some tears in frustration and walked in the house in a hurry.

"Hey, where are you going? What happened with Shikamaru?"

Walking back out while tying her hair back into a short pony tail for the first time in what felt like ever, she said angrily: "I don't know what's his problem but I have some business to attend to."

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"No," she answered quickly. Then before leaving, she said: "Thank you for your visit sensei and I'm sorry it turned out like this. I do however appreciate your concern..."

"As long as you understand that I'm always here then I'm content," he said with a smile which she returned weakly.

Watching her leave, Asuma stood there several minutes before leaving, trying to figure out what happened between Shikamaru and Sora whom seemed so happy together not too long ago.

* * *

Putting the heavy pile of wood down, Daichi stood up and sighed. It was quite a beautiful day to work. He could also already imagine how great the school would look like once it was done. With a smile, he was about to turn around to get more wood when one of his coworkers shouted:

"Hey Daichi! You got a visitor!"

Shielding his eyes from the sun with one hand, he spun around to see the one person that made him happier than anything else.

"Sora, you came! I was actually getting worried that you wouldn't come!" he told her with a wide smile.

"Sorry you felt this way but I'm here now!" she said with a bright smile now on her face.

"Does that mean...?"

"Yes, I will go on a date with you tonight," she answered quickly, as if afraid of changing her mind again.

"That's great! What am I saying? It's not great, it's marvellous! I won't let you down!"

His happiness made her laugh. At least, she had managed to make one person's day.

"I'll pick you up at six tonight, at your house, okay?"

"Where are we going?" she asked.

He winked at her. "That's a surprise, my darling!"

Giggling, Sora bid her goodbyes and left, almost running back to her house. On her way back, she slowed down to eventually stop where there was no one. She looked up at the sky and started to wonder if she did the right thing. She had been so hurt by Shikamaru's sudden change of behaviour that she also wanted to hurt him. Of course, the only thing she could come up with was accept the invitation to go on a date with the one guy that seemed to bother him the most.

Silently, she whipped a tear that had slowly started going down on her cheek. Through her own mixed feeling, little had she noticed Shikamaru's growing affection for her over the past few days...

* * *

**This is the end of this, holy geez, very long chapter! So, I realized that no one has really commented on whether I should keep this story a T or change it to an M later and include a lemon. However, I'm thinking of just doing a one-shot prequel at the end of this and rate it an M with a lemon. Again, if anyone wants to comment on this, feel free to do so!**

**Share the love, write a review... few readers that you are... (seriously, I only had 15 people read the last chapter... I guess I'm expecting too much)**


	9. Dating

**Hi everyone. I wanted to thank you all for your kind words, your opinion, and your encouragements. To thank you all, I decided to do a double update this week, so enjoy!**

**Also thank you _Airheadninja _for what you said you're right. If I love this story the way I do than I should just keep writing it no matter what. Thank you for making me realize that!  
**

**Additionally, I have changed this story's rating to an M. You all know what that means :)**

_**Disclaimer: **_**I don't own Naruto but I do well damn own this awesome story :D**

* * *

The date last night had been great. Although he had brought her to an exotic restaurant, which wasn't in her taste, he had treated her like the most precious thing in the world. He had almost managed to make her forget about her fight with Shikamaru. When he brought her back to her house last night, he had kissed her on the forehead when she admitted that she did not want to rush things. He had not reacted negatively.

This morning, when she opened the door to leave for her training, she found Daichi standing in front of the door, with his fist up, about to knock.

"Oh, good morning! What are you doing here?"

"I was here to see how you were doing. Going somewhere?" he said with a bright smile.

"Yeah, I need to go to training today. My team is meeting up in about an hour."

"Great, I'll walk with you!"

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it without saying a word, knowing full well that when the boy put his mind to something, he wasn't going to take no as an answer. On their way to the usual training ground, Daichi asked Sora how much she loved last night. She, of course, told him with a big smile that it had been great as a first date. It was definitely something that she would never forget. Just before reaching their destination, he asked her if she wanted to go out with him tomorrow and after hesitating a few minutes, she finally accepted. He was about to tell her how happy he was when, from behind them, they heard:

"Well hello, handsome!"

Turning around, they both saw Ino walking behind them.

"Ah, Daichi. This is Ino. She's one of my teammates."

"Nice to meet you!" he said, stretching his hand in front of him.

"Oh, trust me. It's a pleasure to meet you too!" she said as she shook his hand, obviously flirting.

"Well, I need to head off to work darling," he told Sora. "See you at your place tomorrow at six?"

"Yeah, I'll wait for you then," the girl answered.

"Perfect, have a good day!" Daichi then leaned in and kissed her forehead just like he had done the night before.

While he was leaving, Ino started snickering as she looked at Sora who had turned a dark tone of red.

"Quite a guy you found there," the blonde girl told her friend.

"Yeah, he's really nice…" she answered as they walked in the training ground.

"I meant his physical silly! Anyways, Sakura is throwing a small girl party tonight. You need to come!"

Sora laughed lightly. "I'm guessing that you won't take 'no' as an answer?"

"You understood perfectly!" chimed Ino.

"Then, girl party it is tonight."

"Attagirl!"

As they got closer to their meeting spot, they noticed that everyone else was already there. Knowing that they were still out of hearing distance, Ino turned to Sora and asked:

"Are you going to be ok?"

"Huh?" Sora looked at her in confusion.

"I mean about Shikamaru. Choji told me that you two fought yesterday. Do I need to settle him back into his place?"

An expression of sadness washed over the black hair girl's face. As much as Ino could be annoying, as much as she could be a great friend. But Sora hadn't thought about Shikamaru yet today. She bit her lip.

"No… I'm hoping that a good night's sleep got him feeling better," she said, not too convinced.

And she was right not to be convinced. When the two girls met up with the team, Shikamaru didn't bother to greet her, even less look at her. Asuma scratched his head as he watched his team start doing the exercises he had given them. His team's dynamic was crumbling down. It was obvious that Choji and Ino didn't know how to act. Although the blonde seemed ready to defend the girl, both her and Shikamaru's best friend did not want to take any sides.

By the end of the training, the situation had not gotten any better. It did not help that Ino's curiosity had taken the best of the girl, who would ask tons of questions on Daichi. When they were done, Shikamaru seemed clearly irritated about being there and tried to leave without saying a thing but Choji was faster.

"Hey! Why don't we go eat lunch together? We deserve it!" he offered as an attempt to help the two.

"Yeah, great idea Choji," answered Asuma. "Lunch's on me since I'm leaving for a mission tonight!"

"Okay! I should have enough time before I need to go back to the flower shop!" cheered on Ino.

"No thanks. Go without me," said Shikamaru without offering any kind of excuse.

It made Sora feel horrible. She felt like it was her fault if the team was falling apart. As she took a step toward the boy, who was already leaving, Ino rested her hand on her shoulder. Looking at her blonde friend, she saw her shake her head in silence.

At the restaurant, Sora had lost her appetite. Playing with her food, she started regretting about taking the offer for last night's date. She did want to hurt Shikamaru but never thought about the consequences.

"Whatever's his problem, he'll get over it," said Choji seeing her not eating her plate.

"What is wrong with him, anyways?" asked Ino.

As they didn't know the answer, Asuma, Choji, and Ino looked at Sora, hoping she would. Seeing that the attention was all on her, she felt trapped and decided that there was no way of lying.

"All I know is that he doesn't like Daichi," she offered as an explanation.

"Daichi?" asked her sensei.

"Her new boyfriend!" explained Ino with a huge smile.

"Oh, you're going out with someone?" asked Choji.

Sora blushed seeing her team's enthusiastic reaction. She had not yet thought of Daichi as her boyfriend yet but she didn't know what they were either.

"Yeah, he asked me out yesterday and really insisted on me accepting…" she told the boy sitting in front of her.

The boy then grew thoughtful. He thought about Shikamaru's reaction to Sora's new boyfriend. Had they already met before? Was that the reason that his best friend was reacting like this? Ino, on the other hand, followed a different train of thoughts. Staring at the girl, she wondered if Shikamaru…

"Why the intense staring?" asked Sora who brought the two back to reality.

"Just thinking!" they both said at the same time.

Sora looked at both of them, feeling awkward. She had not thought that today's lunch would revolve around her. Deciding that it was time to change the subject, she decided to question her sensei about his new mission.

* * *

The day zoomed by too fast. First thing Sora knew, Ino was already dragging her to Sakura's place. When the pink hair girl opened the door, Sora noticed all the people that were already there.

"Ino… I thought you said that this was going to be a _small_ _girl_ party," Sora said, emphasizing the words "small girl", as she stared at her friend.

"Oh, did I? I must have forgotten to mention that Sakura changed her plans! Now let's go!"

"But I didn't…" started the pink hair girl but stopped when she realize that her best friend was already gone inside.

Sora stood unsure in the doorway. Seeing her hesitation, Sakura pushed her lightly inside while saying:

"This might not be a girl party but I did think about creating a girl only section." Sakura then pointed toward the room she was talking about.

Once inside, Sora looked nervously around. She could see a lot of her friends, including Choji, but not Shikamaru. She was about to ask her teammate if the one she feared was here but opted not to. She felt really stupid fearing her friend so much.

Walking around and greeting everyone eventually led her upstairs. As the party progressed, she felt more and more suffocated. Automatically she had aimed for the roof where she had the habit of taking some fresh air during parties. It was one of the few things that made her resist the urge of just running away. When she found the window she was looking for, she opened it up and sat on the edge. As she was about to flip her legs over, she froze. There, lying on the roof, was Shikamaru staring up at the now starry night. Sora slapped herself mentally. Of course, the one who had showed her a way out during parties was him.

"Roof is busy," the boy said without bothering to look at who was at the window.

"Really? Such a big roof all to yourself?" she asked mockingly.

The boy closed his eyes. He should have known it would be her.

"Are you really going to keep giving me the cold shoulder?" she had the courage to say.

He, once again, didn't answer. He had a lot of anger boiling inside him and was hoping that she would go away.

"Coward," she mumbled as she started heading back in as she could see clearly that this was going nowhere.

"Humph. I'm a coward because I'm angry?" he asked with his eyes now open, clearly insulted.

"No, you're a coward for not wanting to talk it out," she said staring back at him.

"Fine. Next time you lock yourself in your house, I won't bother to help."

"I never asked you to help!" she shouted.

"Yet, I did!"

"And what do you want from me?! To praise you? Shower you with gifts?! To act like no one else exists? Is that why you're so upset that I met Daichi? Because I'm not spending all my time with you?" she yelled out as tears started forming in the corner of her eyes.

Shikamaru didn't answer. Not because he didn't want to but because he didn't know what to say. He started to see what effect his jealousy was having on her and he didn't know what to do anymore. Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose trying to decide what to do. He didn't like hurting her. By the time he opened his eyes again, the girl was gone.

* * *

Going down the stairs as fast as she could, Sora located the door but was stopped by someone.

"Sora? Are you ok?" said Ino.

"No! I mean yes! But I need to go now," she answered in distress.

Putting both hands firmly on her shoulders, Ino looked into her eyes.

"You're not doing okay and being alone doesn't always help." She then took Sora by her right hand pulled her toward a room that Sakura had shown earlier. "Come on, you need some girl time. We'll make you feel better!"

"Ino.. I don't think..." started Sora but didn't finish as they were already at the room.

"Go in," Ino said, pushing her friend gently.

Walking inside the room, Sora found a very small group of girls consisting of Sakura, Hinata, and Ten Ten. Quietly, the girl sat down amongst them. Together, they started talking about anything and everything. They even started gossiping about others which eventually led Sora to giggle a bit at the crazy theories that the others would make around her. Eventually, the conversation died down slowly as they all started eating food Sakura had just gotten for them. After a while, Ino decided that she needed to check something.

"Sora?"

"Hm?" the girl answered with her mouth full.

"When did you meet Daichi?"

"Oh, just a couple of days ago. I literally ran into him."

"So... You didn't know him before then?"

"No..." carefully answered Sora, sensing that there was something Ino was trying to figure out.

As she had guessed, the blonde girl became thoughtful.

"What are you thinking?"

But her question was left unanswered as Ino suddenly bombarded her with more questions. "How was your date again last night?"

"It was nice?"

"Where did you go?"

"To that little exotic place near the grill restaurant we go to all the time."

"Did you like the food?"

"It was... okay."

"And he walked you back home?"

"Yes."

"What did you talk about?"

"Well, he talked about his work."

"Did he have an arm around you?"

"Yes."

"Did you like it?"

"Well it was awkward..."

"Did he kiss you?"

"Well on my forehead..." answered the girl, growing more and more uncomfortable and irritated.

"Why not on the lips?"

"Because I told him I wasn't feeling comfortable with how fast things were moving. Can we stop the interrogation?"

Ino smiled brightly. "No worries, I'm done! I'll be right back!" The girl then left the room.

Sora looked at Sakura but even she didn't understand her best friend's intention.

Outside the room, Ino looked through the crowd for Shikamaru but only found Choji.

"Where is Shikamaru?" she asked urgently.

"Uh, well he just left a few minutes ago but..."

Choji didn't finish seeing the girl had already run off. Outside Sakura's house, Ino dashed in the direction of the boy's house. Thankfully, a few minutes later, she located him right in front of his house.

"Shikamaru, wait up!"

The boy stopped. When he turned around to look at who called him out, the girl noticed how horrible he looked.

"I need to ask you something!"

"If it's about Sora, then forget it," he said already turning towards his house.

"Wait! It is but I'm just curious about something."

"What?" he asked clearly irritated.

"What kind of food does Sora like?"

"Simple food. Preferably homemade."

"And exotic?"

"No. Definitely hates it."

"And when you walk, what does she like to talk about?"

"Nothing. She prefers to enjoy her surrounding."

"Does she like to be touched?"

"Not really. She likes her independency."

"And when she says no or says she's not ready about something, does she like to be forced regardless?"

"No. She likes going to her own speed." The boy sighed. "Why are you bombarding me with all these questions?"

Ino's smile grew wide. "I know you like her," she bluntly declared.

She first saw a surprised expression on his face which quickly turned into a frown.

"Great. Now you can go gossip to Sakura and the others."

"Nah. Your secret's safe with me."

Shikamaru let out another sigh. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, just going to sabotage Sora's relationship," she said already thoughtful.

"No!" he almost shouted.

She looked at him in surprise.

"She doesn't know about how I feel and doesn't need to. If that guy makes her happy, then let him have her. She deserves to be happy..." he explained.

"Heh. Trust me, Shikamaru. He doesn't make her all that happy. Heck, from what I see, he doesn't even bother with making sure she likes what he's doing. Right now, they're both blind about it but they're relationship is already doomed."

Shikamaru scratched his head at the girl's logic.

"How can you know that?"

With a wide smile, Ino tapped her nose with a finger. "Instinct. And I have plenty of it."

"Don't do anything Ino, please."

"Sorry, it's for both her's and your own good!"

Helplessly, the boy watched his friend turn around and walk away. It was crystal clear that she was already planning something.

* * *

**And this is the end of this long chapter. Actually, hope you all like long chapters because I've come to realize that they are all generally very long!**

**Share the love, write a review! Thank you all for reading!**


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